Starz has ordered to series its adaptation of Katori Hall’s stripper play “Pussy Valley” as well as Jerry Bruckheimer’s opioid crisis show “Hightown.”
“Hightown,” formerly called “P-Town,” comes from Rebecca Cutter (“Gotham”), Gary Lennon (“Power”) and Jerry Bruckheimer TV. That name change can probably be attributed to the fact that Hall’s TV version is now tentatively titled “P-Valley” — wouldn’t that have been confusing?
“P-Valley” takes an unapologetic look at the lives of strip club dancers working down in the Dirty Delta, per Starz. Down deep in the Mississippi Delta lies an oasis of grit and glitter in a rough patch of human existence where beauty can be hard to find. This southern-fried, hour-long drama tells the kaleidoscopic story of a little-strip-club-that-could and the big characters who come through its doors — the hopeful, the lost, the broken, the ballers, the beautiful, and the damned.
Here’s some more about the Hall show, straight from the pay-TV channel: Trap music meets film noir in this lyrical and atmospheric series that dares to ask what happens when small-town folk dream beyond the boundaries of the Piggly Wiggly and the pawnshop.
Originally picked up for development in 2016, “P-Valley” is executive produced by Chernin Entertainment and stars Brandee Evans (“The Bobby Brown Story”) as Mercedes and Nicco Annan (“This is Us”) as Uncle Clifford. Shannon Thornton (“Power”) and J. Alphonse Nicholson (“Chicago P.D.”) will join as series regulars.
Hall (pictured above, right), the creator and showrunner, will executive produce with Chernin Entertainment. Khaliah Neal is consulting producer and Patrik-Ian Polk (above, middle) is co-executive producer. Dante Di Loreto is also an executive producer. Music-video director Karena Evans (above, left) will direct the premiere episode.
“Hightown” is a crime drama set amid the drug trade on Cape Cod, touched off when a body washes ashore and discovered by an irreverent National Marine Fisheries Service officer who is determined to help solve the murder even if the state cops want her nowhere near the case, according to the Starz description.
The scripted drama is written and executive produced by Cutter. Gary Lennon will executive produce with Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed from JBTV.
Monica Raymund stars. Production begins in March.
Starz retains all domestic multiplatform pay TV and SVOD rights to both series. Lionsgate retains all international and domestic distribution and home entertainment rights.
Senior vice presidents of original programming Marta Fernandez and Susan Lewis are the Starz executives in charge of the Untitled Katori Hall project. Senior vice presidents of original programming Ken Segna and Susan Lewis as well as director of original programming Kathleen Clifford are the Starz executives overseeing “Hightown.”